JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-21-13 & 6-22-13

In Commentary And Analysis by Sitrick15 Comments

June 21, 2013

Nashville Sound 4 @ Iowa Cubs 5 (Game 1 of DH, 7 Innings)

Nice game for the I-Cubs offense, which put up 10 hits, 7 going for extra bases. Logan Watkins had a big day,going 2-3 day leading off, with a double and a home run. Brad Nelson and Junior Lake each went deep as well on 1-3 days. Dave Sappelt was 2-3 with a double and a triple. Brett Jackson was 2-3 with a double and a stolen base, but did strike out once, naturally. J.C. Boscan was 2-3.

Guillermo Moscoso threw a mostly-solid 6 innings, giving up only 7 hits and 2 walks, but allowing 4 runs, including 2 bombs. He did K 5, though. Michael Bowden worked a clean 7th and K'ed 1.

Nashville Sound 6 @ Iowa Cubs 8 (Game 2 of DH, 7 Innings)

The offense stayed hot in game 2, collecting 12 hits, 7 going for extra bases, including four homers. Apparently, Brewers AAA pitching is bad. Shocking given the state of their major league club, I know.

Logan Watkins went deep again, going 2-4 with a homer and a double. Brian Bogusevic was 2-4 with a home run as well. Junior Lake got his homer in a 3-4 day and added a double for good measure, but was caught trying to steal third in the second inning. Donnie Murphy rounded things out with a 1-2 day with a homer. Tim Torres had a 3-3 day with a triple. Darnell McDonald was the only I-Cub with a hit that didn't go for extra bases. For shame. Steve Clevenger was 0-2, but did walk twice.

Jeffry Antigua had a short day, going 3.2 innings. He was at least efficient from a certain perspective, as he allowed every baserunner to score, allowing 4 runs off of 3 hits and a walk. 2 homers in 3+ innings will do that, I suppose. He did strike out 5 at least. Marcus Hatley got the win for his 1.1 innings of 3 hit, 2 run ball with a walk and a strikeout. Casey Coleman was the only I-Cub pitcher not to let a run across, giving up 2 hits and striking out 2 in 2 innings of work.

Tennessee Smokies 7 @ Chattanooga Lookouts 8

The Smokies got a lot of runs out of a fair amount of station to station baseball in this one, scoring 7 on ten hits, 6 for singles. Matt Szczur was 2-5 with a double. Arismendy Alcantara continued to flash his newfound power, going 2-5 with a home run. Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-4 with a stolen base and three strikeouts, so of course he was promoted to AAA after this one. Justin Bour and Christian Villanueva both went 1-5. Anthony Giansanti was 1-3 with a double. Ronald Torreyes flashed some motor with a triple in his 1-3 day. That was it for the offense.

Kyle Hendricks got roughed up a bit in this one, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings of work. He struck out only one, walked four, and gave up 7 hits including 1 bomb. Not his best day. Yeiper Castillo allowed a run in 2 innings on 3 hits, a walk, and 2 Ks. Zach Rosscup closed it out by getting all three of his outs on Ks, allowing a hit and a walk each.

Dunedin Blue Jays 3 @ Daytona Cubs 1

This lineup's a lot less fun with Jorge Soler out of it, but ah well. Not much offense here, just 4 hits and 3 walks. John Andreoli, Dustin Geiger, Ben Carhart, and Pin-Chieh Chen each had one hit, with Geiger's going for a double. Javier Baez did get hit by a pitch, and Zeke DeVoss, Wes Darvill, and Chen all drew a walk, with Chen adding a stolen base. That's about it.

Ben Wells tried to keep the D-Cubs in it, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits over 6 innings. He struck out three. Larry Suarez worked the final 3 innings, giving up box score bingo with 2 hits, an earned run, a walk, a K, and a HR.

Houston Astros 1 @ Chicago Cubs 3

Darwin Barney was 3-4 with a double and a home run, so that's apparently a thing that can happen. Anthony Rizzo was 2-4, including his first home run in a while. Hopefully a sign of him getting on another hot streak soon. Scott Hairston went deep as well in his 1-3, 1 BB day. Nobody else had an extra base hit. Starlin Castro, Alfonso Soriano, and Dioner Navarro were all 1-4. Ryan Sweeney was 1-3. Cody Randsom was 0-3 but did draw a walk.

Matt Garza's Very Tradeable Contract threw 8 innings of 4 hit, 1 run ball, striking out 8 and walking 2. Damn fine show. Kevin Gregg worked a perfect 9th and punched out 1. 

Kane County Cougars 2 @ Quad Cities River Bandits 4

Albert Almora went hitless. I didn't realize that could happen. He also apparently got yanked for not running out a fly ball, briefly sending twitter into a panic thinking he was hurt.  No dinner for him. Gioskar Amaya had a good day, going 2-4 with a double and KC's only XBH. Bijan Rademacher was 1-4 with a walk. Dan Vogelbach was 1-4. Jeimer Candelario, Marco Hernandez, and Rock Shoulders were all 0-3 with a BB. Reggie Golden went 1-4. And Carlos Escobar was 2-4.

Taylor Scott gave up 2 runs on what appears to have been total smoke and mirrors, allowing 11 hits, 2 walks, and a homer in 5 innings of work, only striking out 2. Lendy Castillo sucked less than usual but still took the loss, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits, a walk, and three strikeouts in the final 3 innings.

Boise Hawks 4 @ Spokane Indians 1

Jacob Hannemann was 1-5 with a double in his debut. Yasiel Balaguert was 1-3 with a homer and a walk. Cael Brockmeyer was 1-4 with a double. Kevin Encarnacion was 2-4 with a homer of his own. Carlows Penalver and Shawon Dunston were both 1-4, and Jacob Rogers was 1-2 with 2 BBs.

Paul Blackburn had a nice day, tossing 5 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball with a walk and 4 Ks. Carlos Martinez-Pumarino and Michael Hamann combined for 4 innings of shutout 1 hit, 1 BB, 4 K ball to finish it off. Good work gents.

DSL Blue Jays 1 @ DSL Cubs 3

Frailin Figueroa threw 5 innings of 1 hit, 1 walk scoreless ball, striking out 4.

VSL Cubs 2 @ VSL Mariners 8

Humberto Garcia was 2-3 with a home run and a walk for the only real noteworthy performance here.

AZL Cubs 6 @ AZL D-Backs 4

Zak Blair was 2-2 with 2 walks for a spotless OBP in this one. Congrats to Zak Blair.

June 22, 2013

Iowa Cubs 2 @ Memphis Redbirds 6

Brian Bogusevic was 2-3 with a walk and a triple. He is not a fast man, so that's impressive. Brad Nelson was 2-4 with a double. Junior Lake was 1-4, and Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-3 in his Iowa debut. Cardinals Superprospect Oscar Taveras was 1-4 with no XBH for the other side, which, given the opposition, I think we can all consider a victory.

Speaking of which, Chris Rusin did Chris Rusin things, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, 3 BBs, and 2 Ks in 6 innings of work. The Redbirds took him deep twice. Eduardo Sanchez worked a perfect 2 to finish, striking out 1.

Tennessee Smokies 8 @ Chattanooga Lookouts 11

Busy day for Matt Szczur, going 4-5 with a double and a SB. He was caught stealing in the 7th. Ronald Torreyes was 1-3 with a triple and a walk. Ty Wright was 2-3 with a SB. Jonathan Mota was 2-5. Rafael Lopez and Justin Bour both went 1-4 with a double and a walk. And Arismendy Alcantara was 1-5 with a SB.

On the pitching side, A.J. Morris threw 5 innings of 3 hit ball, walking and punching out 4 each, and giving up 3 runs. Hunter Cervenka allowed 2 runs in his inning off of 2 hits, a BB, and a K. Tony Zych took the blown save in 0.2 IP, allowing 3 runs off a walk and 3 hits, striking out 1. Oof. Kevin Rhoderick decided that seemed like a good time, and thus proceeded to give up 3 runs of his own in 1.1 IP, allowing 3 hits and striking out 1. He is not very good.

Dunedin Blue Jays 1 @ Daytona Cubs 2

Both the D-Cubs runs came off of Javier Baez's 16th homer of the year at Daytona. He can kinda sorta hit baseballs. He finished 2-4 on the day. Dustin Geiger was 2-4, both singles. Tim Saunders was 1-4 with a double. Zeke DeVoss and Chadd Krist were both 1-3. 

Zach Cates was impressive in this one, scattering 5 hits over 6.2 innings of1 run ball. He walked 2 and K'ed 4. Yao-Lin Wang closed it out with 2.1 scoreless innings, walking 2 and striking out 3 and allowing 2 hits.

Kane County Cougars 5 @ Quad Cities River Bandits 6 (11 innings)

Albert Almora only had 1 hit, but it was a home run so all is forgiven. Rock Shoulders went deep as well in a 2-4 day, adding a double and a walk for good measure. Reggie Golden was 1-4 for the only other Cougars hit of the day. KC did draw 6 walks as a team, however, which is good to see. Carlos Correa had a huge day for the other side, going 4-6 with a triple. He did get picked off the basepaths twice, however.

Michael Heesch worked 6 innings of scoreless ball for the cougars, scattering six hits throughout. He walked none and punched out 6, which is a nice performance to see. Armando Rivero decided to make things interesting by giving up 4 runs in 0.2 innings of work, and now his ERA sits at a fun 54.00. Yeesh. Sheldon McDonald blew the save afterward, giving up a run in 2.1 innings of work. He walked and struck out one each. Stephen Perakslis took the loss after giving up the walkoff run, allowing 3 hits and a walk in 1.1 innings of work.

Boise Hawks 2 @ Spokane Indians 3 (Game 1 of DH, 7 Innings)

Justin Marra was 2-3 with a home run. David Bote was 2-4 with a double. Daniel Lockhart was 2-3. Kevin Encarnacion, Jose Dore, and Trevor Gretzky were all 1-4, with Encarnacion adding a walk.

Loiger Padron got touched for 3 runs in 4 innings off of 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3. Ethan Elias worked the final 2, allowing a hit and 2 walks with 2 Ks, letting none score.

Boise Hawks 3 @ Spokane Indians 4 (Game 2 of DH, 7 Innings)

Jacob Hannemann was 0 for 8 on the day, putting his average in a .077 hole to start his pro career. Shawon Dunston and Kevin Encarnacion went for near identical lines, both going 1-2 with a walk and a home run. Dunston managed not to strikeout, unlike Encarnacion. Lance Rymel was 1-3, Jacob Rogers was 2-3, Carlos Penalver was 1-4 with a SB. David Bote was 1-2 with a walk. And Daniel Lockhart was 0-2 with a walk.

Orbandy Rodriguez and Jasvir Rakkar both worked 3 innings. Rodriguez was not so good, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs (3 earned) on a walk and 4 strikeouts. Rakkar was much better, allowing no baserunners and striking out 1.

Houston Astros 4 @ Chicago Cubs 3

Nate Schierholtz's Fairly Easily Tradeable Contract was 1-3 with a walk and a home run. Welington Castillo was 2-3 with a rare walk. Luis Valbuena and Starlin Castro were both 1-5. Alfonso Soriano was 1-4 with a double. He got picked off, which really needs to stop happening. Ryan Sweeney was 1-3 with a BB. Darwin Barney went 1-4. Anthony Rizzo was 0-2, but did draw 2 walks.

Travis Wood worked a quality start, going 6 and giving up 5 hits and three runs on a walk and 5 Ks. He did give up a home run to J.D. Martinez, who is a player I'd never heard of until typing that. So that's less fun. Shawn Camp must be feeling better, as he worked a perfect 7th. Blake Parker walked a guy, but struck out 1 and was otherwise clean. Kevin Gregg took the loss after giving up a run on a single hit. He was bound to give up a run at some point. The losing effort sent his ERA ballooning from 0.77 to 1.11.

DSL Rojos 0 @ DSL Cubs 5

Good pitching from the DSL Cubs in this one, as the staff struck out 15 Rojos. Jose Zapata gave up 3 hits and K'ed 6 in 5 innings, while Jose Paulino gave up 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7 in his 2 innings of work. 

VSL Rays 1 @ VSL Cubs 15

Roney Alcala had the game of the day, going 3-6 with 2 home runs.

AZL D-Backs 7 @ AZL Cubs 5

Kevin Brown was 1-4 with a triple; Xavier Batista was 1-4 with a double. Other than that, meh.

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  1. Author
    sitrick

    Finally back with power after 2 days without. Trees down all over Minneapolis. Everything is terrible.

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  2. dmick89

    @ Rice Cube:
    Sure, but I understood the reason they working hard on it in the past. It was his biggest weakness. This year it’s not even close. As bad as his defense has been, and it’s been bad, his offense has been twice as worse. Some of it is bad luck. Some of it is bad performance. Some of it is probably regression.

    I’ve read recently how he has a different approach this year. Fuck that shit. It ain’t working. I really liked the Castro who couldn’t take a walk, but could hit the ball. This Castro can’t hit, can’t take a walk, can’t run the bases and can’t field.

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